J&K ACB registers case in illegal petrol pump construction in Budgam

A case was registered under FIR No. 21/2025 at police station, ACB, Srinagar, following a verification conducted on the basis of a complaint received from inhabitants of Arigam village, Budgam

Jammu and Kashmir Anti-Corruption Bureau on Tuesday registered a case in illegal petrol pump construction in Budgam, informed officials.

The ACB further said that the concerned revenue officers and officials, by abuse of their official positions and in criminal conspiracy with the beneficiary, facilitated encroachment on state land and conferred undue pecuniary benefit upon the said individual. (File)

A case was registered under FIR No. 21/2025 at police station, ACB, Srinagar, following a verification conducted on the basis of a complaint received from inhabitants of Arigam village, Budgam.

“The verification revealed that one individual, Ali Mohammad Khan s/o Sonaullah Khan r/o Arigam Budgam, had constructed a petrol pump on Kahcharaie land at Arigam in June 2020, on the basis of a license issued by the competent authority on manipulated and misleading facts.

“Investigations disclosed that during 2018, NOCs were issued by the then Arigam patwari, naib tehsildar, and tehsildar Khansahab for proprietary land under survey numbers 531 and 533 Min. However, these officers deliberately omitted to record that access to the said land was only through state/kahcharaie land and failed to mention that the land was separated from the main road by Kahcharaie land prone to encroachments,” the ACB statement said, adding that during probe it surfaced that the concerned Patwari concealed the existence of survey number 532 (Shamilat land) while preparing the Khaka Dasti, thereby misrepresenting the factual position of the site. “Despite a clarification sought by the Budgam ADC in March 2018, the field staff falsely reported that the site was feasible for transportation and storage of fuel. On the basis of these misleading NOCs and reports, the then Budgam deputy commissioner issued a petrol pump license in favour of the beneficiary on Survey Nos. 531 and 533, which were not adjacent to each other. The then SDM Khansahab also forwarded the reports to higher authorities without conducting an independent spot verification or record scrutiny,” the ACB said.

The ACB further said that the concerned revenue officers and officials, by abuse of their official positions and in criminal conspiracy with the beneficiary, facilitated encroachment on State land and conferred undue pecuniary benefit upon the said individual. ”Accordingly, offences under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018) and Section 120-B of IPC have been established against the accused public servants and beneficiaries. Consequently, a case has been registered at police station ACB Srinagar.Further investigation of the case has been taken up,” the statement read.